Farewell Poopsheet Foundation

 

Well, after 5 years (2009 to 2014) and clocking out with a whopping 521 reviews at that site alone, I’m no longer serving as the Senior Reviewer at Poopsheet Foundation. I know, I know, some of you are probably gasping in horror thinking that I’m turning my back on the indie scene forever, while some of you whose typos I liked to judiciously correct, in an effort to remind you that professionalism and mini-comics are not mutually exclusive, are probably secretly celebrating. I really want to thank Rick Bradford for this great opportunity. Back in ‘09, I self-published a new mini-comic and sent it in for review. The next thing I knew, we struck up a conversation, and I was reviewing comics for Rick’s cottage enterprise at a weekly clip. Rick has shown me tremendous generosity and flexibility over the years. Rick was the best kind of boss to have, for me anyway, totally hands-off and always appreciative.

There isn’t any drama behind the scenes or anything like that. We part as friends. Rick has created something important, a place to highlight the vibrant world of mini-comics and small press publishing. I believe in what he’s trying to do and hope it continues, that other reviewers will step in to fill the void. For me, it was just time for a change. With the amount of comics related work I’m doing at my own site, contributing to at other sites, and at freelance work-for-hire assignments, I needed to re-evaluate and put the majority of my time and energy behind the projects with the most visibility or compensation, and start to phase out the low/no pay gigs, as much fun as they might be. For those of you that have my mailing address and a relationship already built, you can certainly still send me your minis and small press work directly for review here at Thirteen Minutes, with the understanding that the kind of turnaround time I was once able to commit to might be pushed out a bit.

I’ve always had an interest in mini-comics and small press, having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, where there was a strong indie scene. 20 years ago, I had friends who brought me into that world when all I was reading were mainstream titles. Working at Poopsheet Foundation exposed me to an even greater number of creators, some who became friends, whose work I might not have had the opportunity to sample otherwise. I’ll be a fan of their work for the long haul. Their names are far too numerous to mention. In fact, I struggled with which image(s) to run with this post. That’s a good example of the way I can worry over small details. I decided to just Google my reviews at PF and these are the first three screen shots that came up. If nothing else, they’re literal snapshots of the sheer diversity of work being produced today, some of the books I’ve enjoyed immensely during my time there, and some of the creators I’ll continue to follow as long as they keep making comics.

Thanks for reading.

Justin